


Tiny Dancer

by thenerdyindividual



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Burlesque Club, Dancing, Injury Recovery, Minor Angst, Multi, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 07:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19269025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenerdyindividual/pseuds/thenerdyindividual
Summary: Eggsy has been out of the whole dancing scene for a while and has very little intention of ever getting back out there. No matter how his friends and mother push him. When Roxy needs a partner for a performance at a charity event, Eggsy finds his good nature leading him back to the stage.





	1. Chapter 1

The door to the flat swings open and Eggsy glances away from the telly long enough to see Roxy. They’ve been flat mates for a little over a year, a benefit of working in the same place and actually getting along.

“No Tilde?” He asks. 

Roxy sets her dance bag down and flops on the sofa with her feet in his lap, face smushed into the cushions. Her makeup is going to stain them if she doesn’t move soon. As if reading his mind Roxy rolls over. Absently, Eggsy starts rubbing one of her feet, he knows the heels are murder. 

“She came by just before closing so she could see me dance but she had to go back to hers. Early client meeting tomorrow.”

Makes sense then. Lately Tilde has been spending more time in their flat than in her own. And if Eggsy is honest he’s been spending more time in bed with Roxy and Tilde than in his own. At this point it would just make sense for Tilde to move in, so she wouldn’t have to run back and forth from her girlfriend’s flat and her own every time she has to take clients to see venues. Plus the help with rent is nothing to sneeze at. 

Roxy shifts a bit so her head is propped up on the arm of the sofa, “Any chance you’d be willing to cover my shift on Saturday? Mother had graciously invited me for family dinner. God forbid grandmothers dearest find out their Oxford educated granddaughter takes her clothes off for money.”  
“They still don’t know that you got sacked from that assistant position?”  
“Nope. It’s hardly my fault that he didn’t take his fingers being broken lightly, and that once you have a reputation for standing up for harassment your philosophy degree is practically useless. Stupid vanity degree.” Roxy grumbles.

Eggsy knows where this rant is going. He’s heard it enough times. Apparently Roxy wanted to go in for a theater degree but her mother had informed her that theater was not appropriate and would ‘never help you find a husband’. After a threat of disownment, Roxy settled on philosophy. She’s probably the most brilliant woman Eggsy has met but she never wanted to be in her mother’s world. She was much happier dancing at Kingsman. 

“It is however my uncle James’s fault for introducing me to Black Widow when I was six and then enrolling me in ballet and judo.” Roxy finishes  
“Are you bartending or dancing on Saturday?”  
“Dancing.” 

That draws Eggsy’s attention away from the Telly properly. Roxy is grimacing apologetically. 

“Rox you know I ain’t a dancer anymore.”   
“You were cleared for dancing again a year ago.” She reminds him.   
“Yeah well I told Harry and Merlin I ain’t ready. And they agreed.”  
“We all know they’d bend over backwards for you but they also have to keep their club up and running. If I don’t have anyone to cover me Saturday then they’re going to lose clients.”  
“Ask Amelia then.”  
“Amelia has covered me twice in a row. I can’t ask her again.” Roxy complains.   
“I ain’t dancing Rox. Get fucking Charlie to cover you or even Gazelle.”  
“But—“  
“I said no Rox! Fuck.” Eggsy shouts and shoves her feet off his lap. 

Roxy sits up, arms crossed. She has that stubborn look on her face that usually spells trouble for Eggsy.

“It isn’t fair, Eggsy. I know you’re still freaked but all of us got hired as dancers first and bartenders second. But because Harry and Merlin think of you as their son, they let you monopolize the bar and that is cutting back hours for people who need them.”  
“Fuck off. Dancers make way more than I do. Don’t try to guilt me because you might be inconvenienced on Saturday.”

He pushes off the sofa, brainless show about designer wedding cakes all but forgotten on the telly. He crosses the living room, and lets his bedroom door slam. Maybe it’s childish but he wants Roxy to know how pissed he is. 

He curls up on his bed and stares blankly at the water-stained wall. The thing is, he knows she is partially right. The dancers at Kingsman got lucky, Harry and Merlin hired them as employees and not outside contractors. So everyone got trained to bartend and cashier for cover charges to make sure they maximized hours. Eggsy has been monopolizing the bar which means that is one person missing out on that spot. He wasn’t lying though when he said freeing up dancing hours meant more money for the others, dancers make bank in tips. Ever since he stopped dancing making rent has been a lot harder.

Sometime later his door creaks open and Roxy slips into his room. Her hair is damp from the shower and she is still over warm from the hot water when she crawls into bed behind him. She rests her head on his shoulder and they lay there in silence for a few moments.

“Gazelle said she’d cover for me.” Roxy says softly.  
Eggsy recognizes it for the apology that it is, “Sorry I shouted,” he says back.  
“Sorry I pushed,” Roxy admits, “I was upset about saturday. I get that you’re not ready to go back and might never be. I just remember how much you liked dancing you always seemed so happy doing it.”

He wishes Roxy wasn’t always so fucking right all the time. He does miss the thrill of being acrobatic. Before Dean finally met that accident with the underground, parkour had been Eggsy’s release. The feeling of flying, of accomplishing incredible feats. It was freeing. Dancing didn’t give him quite the same sensation but it came close enough and was millions of times safer than leaping rooftop to rooftop in London. Daisy needed her big brother. 

The extra money was nice too but more than anything he misses pushing himself. 

The audience approval came second as well. For him their reaction just meant he’d succeeded in pushing himself the way he wanted. The act was what was important to him. But then… he shakes his head a bit. No point in dwelling in the past.

He squeezes Roxy’s arm where she’s draped it across his side, “I miss it sometimes, and I do feel bad about always being on bar. I’ll make Harry give me cover charge for the next few weeks.”  
Roxy kisses his cheek, “I promise to try to not take my anxiety about my mother out on you in future.”  
Eggsy nods and shuffles a bit so he’s laying in a more comfortable position, “You staying or going to your room?”  
“I’ll stay if that’s okay.”

Eggsy doesn’t answer, just sits up and pulls the covers over them.

*

Opening shifts at Kingsman were worse than almost working cover charges. The place is empty until six but Harry insists on opening at four just in case someone wants to pre-book seats. However the janitorial staff doesn’t come in until five which means the person working gets stuck standing in an empty burlesque club in the middle of the afternoon with nothing to do. In his time working opening, Eggsy has only ever made one sale and the man got arrested for money laundering before even making it to the club.

Eggsy unlocks the back door to Kingsman and wanders through opening the windows to air it out. Weekends are always the busiest which means by monday there is a distinct smell of alcohol and sweat that lingers. It used to be worse before Merlin added an air purifier to the ventilation system. Bless that man’s handiness. 

Eggsy unlocks the tablet they use for sales and plugs it into the register. With that done he takes stock of the bar. Digby closed the night before so the dark wooden top is polished to the point of gleaming, same with the brass edge the runs the length. Bloke is a prick but he always leaves his work area spotless. 

He does a quick inventory of the bottles on the matching shelves behind him. Tequila is running low which is a first. He makes note of everything Harry will need to order and heads into the back again to leave it on his desk.

With nothing else to do he decides to prep the stage for Elmer. He’s a million years old but Harry insists on employing him out of some kind of family loyalty, and Merlin has learned to pick his battles when it comes to his husband. But it does mean that when Jenny opens up her schedule, the poor man struggles to clean the stage. It will take him half an hour just to vacuum up all the body glitter left over by Jenny. Which means it will take him even longer to get around to disinfecting the booths.

He grabs the dry mop from back stage and starts sweeping up. The fight against body glitter is a losing one but he starts to form a little pile towards the front of the stage. He makes a mental note to tell Merlin that the stage floor needs sanding again. A lot of the performances are in bare feet and splinters would suck.

As he works his way towards the center of the stage, his shoulder brushes against the pole. Most days he just ignores it. It sits innocuously on the stage. The metal isn’t even shiny enough to glitter in stage lights during performances, and during the afternoon opening there aren’t any performances to draw his attention to it. 

Right now though it’s hard to ignore. He almost never hops up on stage and it’s been ages since he was on the stage and anywhere close to the pole. His tiff with Roxy comes back to him and he finds himself wondering if he is ever going to get back out there. 

If the answer is no then the right thing would be to find another job and quit so Harry can hire someone that fits better. But fuck. Eggsy loves Kingsman. Even though Charlie and his posse are probably the worst people to have ever walked the earth, the rest is great. Security is fast to kick out the assholes that harass the dancers, and Merlin always backs up their decision without offering the customer any refunds. They pay extremely well because Merlin has a coding contract on the side and Harry comes from old money. So they only keep enough for themselves to keep their account level, the rest is poured back into the club. Eggsy knows if he tried to go anywhere else he would not find a manager who actively encourages unionization if he does a shit job. 

Maybe he’s remembering his panic worse than it was. He never used to be scared of anything when Dean was around, so maybe he’s just behaving like a chicken shit now because Harry and Merlin insist on babying him. It would be great to make them proud again.

Maybe one little lift wouldn’t hurt. He takes a small, shuffling, step forward and tentatively wraps his hand around the pole. Taking a step closer proves to be mistake. He yanks his hand back like he’s been burned. 

In a second the stage lights are up. He’s grinning, saucy and cocky. The announcer's voice is distorted, sounding like the adults from the Charlie Brown cartoons. The music thrums under Eggsy’s skin. 

He steps around the pole, rolling his hips and having fun with it. After a few moments he mounts the pole, swinging himself around. 

There’s something wrong. The pole doesn’t feel right. Eggsy can’t get a good enough grip on it. He has too much momentum to stop. He needs to dismount, his hands are slipping. He’s airborne. He can’t stop his descent. 

A stabbing pain rockets through his knee. His head hits the floor with a crack. The music is still playing but people are shouting. Roxy’s face is swimming in front of his eyes. 

Eggsy staggers away and has to sit down on the edge of the stage to catch his breath. He still feels the phantom pain in his knee. A grade two ACL tear, and a mild concussion. 

The doctors at the clinic told him it was lucky he hadn’t fractured anything but if he ever wanted to dance again he’d need surgery. After a surgery that scared Daisy even today, and months of physical therapy he’d been cleared for his old lifestyle but by then the scare had settled in, and he wasn’t able to bring himself back to even pole-free dancing. It’s embarrassing to have insisted on surgery only for there to be no point.

His hands are shaking. The remembered fear is still making its way through his body. He takes grounding breaths for what feels like ages but realistically might only be a few minutes. He is still shaking when he finally hops off the stage. He’s never been more relieved to see frail old Elmer when the man finally totters in.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yes mate! I heard your order! Sit down!” Eggsy says as yet another patron loses patience. Fucking businessmen. Always expecting things at the snap of fingers.

The bar is crowded, even for a Friday night. Eggsy has counted two stag dos, and one woman celebrating her sixtieth in style. This is on top of the usual after work rush they get on Fridays, people desperately trying to blow off steam.

Rufus called in sick, meaning Eggsy is the only one tending bar. Liam is manager and is technically supposed to cover a shift if someone calls out, but he’s doing crowd control. The rush to the bar n between performances is mad. Patrons have reached the sloppy stage and are actually trying to lean over the bar to serve themselves.

Eggsy slides the businessman who snapped at him his drink and moves on to the next order. Some frilly pink thing that tastes amazing but take twice as long to make. He feels like he’s treading water, desperately trying to keep his head from below the surface. He slides the woman her drink with a wink and the flirtation makes her drop the vague ‘I am going to speak to your manager about this’ look from her face.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, Honored patrons, our next performance is about to begin,” Amelia announces from her little booth and as quickly as the rush came to the bar they scatter, all rushing back to their seats to get a clear view, “She is the poshest of us all but I think she’s feeling playful tonight. Please give it up for the one and only Roxanne!”

The patrons all cheer and clap, completely forgetting Eggsy for the time being. He takes the opportunity to start cleaning up his work space. The last thing he needs is to slip and fall. No more injuries for him thanks. He’s seen Roxy rehearse enough times that he knows what the crowd is in for.

The lights go down. Music swells. Light comes up. Roxy is standing next to a chair, hand lightly grasping the back. Her costume is new. Eggsy’s watched her labor over it for the last few days. It’s a bit of an unusual costume for her, she tends to go the lace and leather lingerie route but she had gotten bored and watched too much Game of Thrones. She’d stitched together airy pieces of fabric, so that they cross over her chest and back. The fabric tumbles to just above her ankles and is completely open at the sides except for the little strips at the chest to hold it in place so she didn’t give the audience a nip slip that wasn’t worked into her dance. The lavender color is so light it’s almost white under the stage lights. 

Harry did promise to cover homemade costume costs as long as they were well-made, and creative. Merlin added that they needed to also bring in more money for the club, always the practical to Harry’s encouragement. Judging by the glazed looks several patrons have, Roxy will get her costume covered.

She shoots the audience a flirty smile then struts around the edge of the chair, hips swishing seductively as she walks, letting the crowd get teasing little flashes of her arse as the fabric floats. She ends behind the chair and kicks out the last step so she’s standing behind it with her legs slightly spread. She bounces her hips side to side for a few counts then drags her foot through into a body roll. She takes another step and drops into the chair, legs spread wide. The audience gets to see her hip flexors stretch, again giving them another teasing taste of the money shot. The site is gone almost as soon as she gives it to them, dragging her legs in so that they close around the airy fabric.

She’s sitting sideways in the chair, giving the audience a view of the expanse of her hip all golden under the lights. She drags her hands up across her torso, caressing her breasts. She lets them push her hair to the other side as her chest arches forward, making a small circle. Her hands slips back down over her body to the chair. She pushes her body off the chair, balancing on her arms. She extends a leg, draws it back in, and does the same for the other.

Eggsy realizes he’s gotten distracted watching his roommate and goes in search of a rag. 

Sometimes he misses performing. He fishes a dish rag from beneath the sink and wipes down the bar. It’s gotten sticky from the rush, and drunken patrons sloshing their drinks over the rims of their glasses. He finds a ring of grenadine syrup stuck to the bar, which how? He hasn’t even used it enough tonight to make it onto the customer part of the bar. By the time he’s finished, Roxy is coming to the conclusion of her performance.

She’s straddling the chair, back to the audience. Her arms are up in the air and the low cross of her costume at the back means that the stage lights highlight the muscle there. She brings an arm down, lightly skimming her body with her knuckles and slides her hand out to her knee. She repeats with her other arm. She pulls her arms back in to grip the chair, and she pops up arse out as she pushes the chair away from herself. The fabric floats over her and sways teasingly as she circles her hips. She steps through and drags her fingers across her chest again, tugging slightly at the airy fabric to give the crowd just a hint of nipple, and then sinks into the chair sideways, legs extended. The music and lights fade out, and the audience suddenly erupts into a roar as if they’d been holding their breath the whole time Roxy was on stage. Eggsy steals himself for the in between [1]rush.

The last of the audience filters out for the night and the house lights fully come up. The floor is surprisingly clean for such a busy night. Eggsy walks around the tables, collecting the left over glasses. He returns behind the bar to start washing just as Roxy comes striding out of the changing room. She has changed out of her costume fir the evening and is instead in sweats with her hair up in a bun. She hasn’t removed her stage make up yet which makes for a truly hilarious contrast.

She takes residence on one of the barstools as Eggsy starts wiping down the counter with the disinfectant.

“So? What did you think?” Roxy asks, eyes narrowed. She always needs to dissect her performance.  
“You looked great babe.” Eggsy teases her. He knows that not giving Roxy a detailed answer drives her crazy.  
Roxy lasts all of five seconds before she leans forward, “You always say that. Did the costume work? Did it not work? Would it work better for a different dance or should I scrap it?”  
Eggsy grins at her and, knowing she’s been caught out, Roxy rolls her eyes back. “Yes. I am aware that I am over analyzing but you’re being vague so out with it.”

Eggsy stops wiping down the counter for a moment and leans against it. He takes a moment to think before answering, “It honestly worked real well Rox. Usually you go hard and kind of kinky or go super vintage silent film. This was a good change of pace.”  
“Good change of pace or a disappointment to the regulars?” she challenges.  
“Stop worrying. Considering the amount of drunk boners I had to ignore after you went up, I’d say they liked it. Costume was gorgeous. Covering up gave you a different kind of sexy, more ethereal and tantalizing yeah?”  
Roxy nods, and settles back in her chair again. She seems to be contemplating what Eggsy said. “I’ve been considering entering somewhere competitively” she announces.  
“That’s amazing,” Eggsy exclaims, “Got any idea where?”  
“Not yet but I wanted to experiment with different styles before I tried. Enough women go hard or comical, and I need a way to step out of that mold.”

Just then her phone vibrates and she looks away from Eggsy to pick it up. Her whole face lights up and Eggsy knows who it is even before she announces, “Tilde is out back!”

Roxy runs to the back door to let her girlfriend inside, and Eggsy opens the register to start cashing out for the night. When they come back, Roxy is hanging on Tilde’s arm and staring at her like she hung the moon. Tilde is talking so fast she’s breathless, lilting accent even more pronounced.

“You were beautiful,” she says earnestly to Roxy, “I felt like I was watching moving art. You were like a renaissance painting come to life.”  
They sit at the bar and Tilde turns to Eggsy, “Wasn’t she beautiful darling?”

Eggsy holds up one finger to tell Tilde to hold on a moment. He made a lot of cash sales tonight and he doesn’t want to lose count. He finishes counting, stuffs the bills into the envelope, and passes the envelope to Roxy. “Cash me out?”

Roxy starts double counting Eggsy’s cash and Eggsy turns to Tilde with a smile. It’s always good to see her, “She looked great, already told her that the new costume worked out like she wanted.”  
“How can you work here night after night without going mad? All these beautiful people and the most gorgeous woman on earth dancing for you…”  
“Well Charlie is a fucking prick, so I don’t gotta be worried about going mad for him. Everyone else does the same routine night after night so you get bored. I’ll always be mad for Roxy though.” He sends a flirtatious wink in her direction.

She ignores him like always but it makes Tilde giggle. Roxy finishes counting and slides the money back into the envelope. She signs off on the amount and then passes it back to Eggsy so he can drop it on the way out.

“You really liked it?” Roxy asks Tilde.  
“Of course. Especially the little flash at the end,” Tilde trails her fingers into the neckline of Roxy’s shirt and tugs a little, “Knowing only two people in the club know what your breasts actually look like.”  
“Oi,” Eggsy protests, “No foreplay in our place of work.”  
Tilde laughs and turns on her stool to face Eggsy again, “I’m sorry Eggsy. I didn’t forget you. You just weren’t the one on stage tonight. Any chance you will get back out there again?”

Eggsy winces at that question. Roxy, no doubt remembering the fight they just had a week ago over this very topic, smooths the moment over with fake outrage, “You’re more excited to see my flat mate’s arse than mine?”  
“To be fair it is a very nice arse. I enjoy doing it,” Tilde defends and gives Eggsy wide eyes, “And I think he does too?”  
Eggsy can’t help the grin that forms on his face, “You’re right. It’s fucking great. But no pegging on work nights. It ain’t fair to make me walk funny when I gotta serve drinks.”  
Tilde pouts magnificently. Her royal features that are so sharp seem to melt into sadness, “Please Eggsy? I’ll even do that thing you like.”

Eggsy chuckles and shakes his head. How he ended up sort-of dating the two horniest women in London he has no idea, “I work again tomorrow. I need to sleep. You can fuck me when I get home tomorrow night. Promise.”  
“Okay.” Tilde sighs dramatically.  
“I don’t work tomorrow,” Roxy promises and leans forward on her stool so she can balance her hands on Tilde’s stool between her legs, “We did buy Eggsy noise canceling headphones for a reason.”  
Tilde’s eyes sparkle mischievously and she tucks a stray strand of hair behind Roxy’s ear, “Maybe we should go then. Unless we want to wait?”

She turns to Eggsy then, and he knows it’s a question for him. Does he want them to stay? Normally he would say yes but when they’re in this mood they’re impossible, and he starts to feel like an outsider third wheel. He knows he could fully join the relationship at any time but… he cuts off his train of thought.

“Go on. Get out of here. I’m only a few minutes behind you.” He says and both women slide off their stools.  
Roxy leans up on her tiptoes to get passed the bar and presses a kiss to Eggsy’s cheek, “See you when you get home.”  
Roxy and Tilde head out the back and before they leave Eggsy calls out. “There better be a sock on the door when I get back! I ain’t walking in on you again!”  
“Maybe we want you to!” Roxy calls back and the back door swings shut, cutting off their peals of laughter.

Eggsy locks up the tablet and card reader for the night. He turns off the bar lights, drops the envelope off at cash control, and heads for the locker room. He pulls out his backpack, takes off his work shirt which is soaked through with sweat and water from clean up, and crams it inside. He needs to do laundry anyway. He pulls on his polo and heads out. He locks the door behind him, and walks home in the crisp London air.

When he gets home there is a sock on the door. He just hopes they moved to the bedroom, he doesn’t want to have to sneak by them to get a shower. 

He unlocks the door to the flat and opens the door a crack. No sign of Tilde or Roxy. He opens the door the rest of the way and drops his backpack off in the entry. He’ll deal with the wet shirt in a bit. Right now he desperately needs a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to watch the inspiration videos for Roxy's dance you can find them here   
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LJkpeNV8QM  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqj1hzXhXXc


	3. Chapter 3

Eggsy sighs and nuzzles the shoulder of whoever is in front of him. Judging by the slight ridge of a scar it’s Roxy. As she shifts in her sleep, the smell of her shampoo wafts into Eggsy’s nose, confirming it is in fact her. That means the body pressed against his back is Tilde. It’s been a while since they had the time to do this, wake up slowly all squished together in Roxy’s bed. Tilde has had weddings to plan every weekend since march.

Eggsy loathes to disrupt the cuddle pile but he seriously has to pee. He presses a kiss to Roxy’s shoulder and wiggles out of bed, mostly succeeding in not disturbing the women. He pees, washes his hands, and heads into the kitchen. If he tries to climb back in bed now, it will startle Roxy and he’ll get a punch to the eye. He’s learned that the hard way over the year as her roommate and occasional fuck buddy.

He has time for a proper breakfast this morning. He heads to their fridge and it is almost bare. Half a carton of eggs, some tired cheese, and something that may have once been lettuce. They really need to go shopping, he should steal Mr. Alinsky’s newspaper again for the coupons.

With a lack of anything else to make, Eggsy pulls out their frying pan and sets about making cheese omlettes for everyone. He knows that the second they smell food cooking they’ll come stumbling out of the bedroom.

He’s just finished the first omelette when Tilde stumbles out of the bedroom. She’s wrapped up in the fluffy lavender dressing gown she leaves at the flat for emergencies. Her hair is a disheveled pile on her head. She wanders over to Eggsy, eyes still half squinted and kisses his shoulder.

“Nothing sexier than a man who cooks.” she says sleepily.

She snags the finished omelette and sits at their rescued dining table to eat. Eggsy would never admit but seeing Tilde all soft and sweet when she’s normally sharp as a tack does something to his heart. 

Roxy isn’t far behind her girlfriend. She comes out as Eggsy is halfway through cooking his own omelette. She kisses his cheek without saying much. She is usually nonverbal for at least half an hour after waking up. She pours herself a cup of coffee from the pot that has just finished and then settles in next to Tilde at the table.

It is a quiet morning. Tilde showers and changes into a fresh set of clothes instead of dashing off to her own flat before work. As Tilde is showering, Roxy wakes up enough to sort the laundry that needs doing. She doesn’t go on shift until five so she has time to get things going and will probably do her makeup when she puts the last load in. Eggsy takes second shower and prepares to go see his mum and Daisy. 

It is one of the few days that Sean is out of town. He doesn’t actually have an issue with Sean, he seems a nice enough bloke. He was good to Eggsy’s mum after Dean got hit by the train and she needed someone to watch Daisy. But growing up with a wank stain like Dean has made Eggsy skittish and untrusting, and the jury is still out on Sean. Whether he’s actually a good guy or if he is just good when compared to Dean. Plus he always seems to be there and it eats at the quality time with his mum.

Tilde comes rocketing out of Roxy’s bedroom just as Eggsy is double checking he has everything he needs to leave. She kisses Roxy, gasps something about an unexpected client, and flies out the door like a madwoman. 

“Any idea what that was about?” Eggsy asks  
“None. I expect she’ll tell me later tonight though.” Roxy answers, seemingly nonplussed by the way her girlfriend fled their flat like her hair was on fire.  
“Lemme know yeah?”

Roxy gives him a thumbs up and tosses a vest into one of the piles of laundry she’s making. Eggsy pockets his keys and leaves the flat for the day. It is a short tube ride to his mum’s flat. He would still live there if he had the choice but Daisy needed her own room now that she’s growing up and that couldn’t happen with Eggsy occupying the spare bedroom.

“Mum? You home?” Eggsy calls as he’s unlocking the door.  
There is an excited shriek and Daisy barrels full speed into his legs and squeezes tight. Yeah it’s good to be home.  
“Heya Dais. Missed ya.” Eggsy says and bends down a bit so he can press his hands in between her shoulders in a sort of hug.  
“I haven’t seen you in two whole years!” Daisy cries out dramatically.  
“Two years huh? It been two years since Tuesday?”  
“It feels like it.” she insists stubbornly.  
“Well you gotta let go of my legs if you want me to come in to play.”  
“No. You gotta carry me.”  
“Not on this leg Dais. It’s my bad knee.” Eggsy says quickly.

Daisy disentangles herself from Eggsy’s legs long enough to resituate herself on his other leg. Eggsy closes the door behind him and picks Daisy up with his leg as he walks. Each time she takes a step she lets out a giggle.

He finds his mum standing in the kitchen making lunch. She smiles when she sees him and wipes her hands off. She cups his face and then gives him a hug. That is one benefit to Sean, his mum smiles a lot more since she’s been around.

“How are you doing babe?” she asks  
“Fine. Good. Club’s been busy but ain’t nothing we can’t handle.”  
“Still serving drinks then?”  
“Yeah. Why?”  
“No reason. You just mentioned maybe wanting to go for a degree now that life is a bit calmer.”  
“Mum.” Eggsy says tiredly.  
“What? I just don’t want you to give up on it if it’s what you want.”  
“I don’t know what I’d get a degree in. Don’t want to waste money dicking around.”  
“Swear jar!” Daisy yells “You said dicking! Mummy said we couldn’t say that!”  
“What? Since fucking when?”  
“Eggsy Unwin! You certainly cannot drop an F bomb,” Michelle says scandalized, “Swear jar!”

Eggsy sighs and Daisy rolls off his foot. He walks over to the shelf and drops a couple of pounds into the swear jar. Daisy’s first word being “shit” meant that swearing was forbidden in the Comtois household. The money from the swear jar collected after Daisy’s third birthday payed the costs to change their last names from Baker back to Michelle’s maiden name.

Eggsy sits down at the kitchen table and Daisy disappears into her bedroom. His mum sets out the sandwiches she made and then sits down as well.

“How’s Roxy?”   
“Good. Real good. She and Tilde are so in love it is disgusting.”  
“You ever thought of maybe going out on date? Get you your own Tilde? What about that American bloke that dances at the club?”  
“I ain’t even been here an hour and you’ve already said two disapproving things about my life. You owe me five pounds.”  
“Hey! We agreed I could express negative opinions.” Michelle says indignantly  
“Yeah. If you thought I’d be making a mistake that would horribly disrupt my life.” Eggsy reminds her  
“Well I am worried that these little decisions will lead up to massive mistakes,” Michelle defends, “I may not be hip but I do know love comes in all shapes and forms. I know you’re bi and I know you have more love in your soul for those two girls than anyone you’ve ever actually dated. So I don’t want you to sit back because you’re scared you’ll fail. Same with school and with dancing.”  
“Three things. Fifteen pounds.”  
“I’ll give you ten since you owed five to the swear jar. I’m serious though babe. I worry.”  
“I’m fine, mum. I swear.”  
“Alright. I’ll let it go.” Michelle concedes.

Daisy comes out of her room at that point and climbs into her seat at the table. She passes Eggsy a drawing.

“I had to draw my family for school. See there’s you. There’s mum and Sean.”  
“This is sick Dais. Really. It’s really good.” Eggsy says and admires the awkward five year old scribbles.  
“Mrs. Shay wanted to put it on the wall but I told her that I had to show you first.” Daisy announces seriously.  
“Well it’s great. Just one question.”  
“What?”  
“Why is there a dog in this picture?” Eggsy asks and holds it up so she can see what he’s pointing at, “We don’t have a dog.”  
“Oh! I want one and one of the mum’s at school told us on career day that we have to see our future ourselves and it will happen.”  
Eggsy sends a questioning look to his mum. She has a pained expression on her face.  
“Yogi and motivational speaker. All about visualization.”  
“Ah.”

*

Eggsy comes back to his flat loaded down with leftovers from his mum. She’s been on a cooking kick lately but Daisy is going through a picky eating phase which means half of it sits in the fridge with not enough people in the flat to eat it. However with one perpetually exhausted bartender, a semi-disowned rich girl who never learned how to cook properly, and an event planner who is never here long enough to cook, the food is always eaten when Eggsy takes it home.

Tilde and Roxy are standing in the kitchen when he gets back. Something is bubbling on the stove and they’re pressed close together. It looks like they’re sharing a bottle of champagne. 

“Oi. Why are you lot cooking? You knew I was going to my mum’s.” Eggsy says and sets the stack of plastic containers on the table. Whatever Tilde is cooking it smells fantastic. In all honesty it’s probably better than what his mum made.   
“Eggsy!” Roxy cheers, excited about something since she almost never speaks with exclamation points, “Put those away we have an announcement.”

Eggsy opens their fridge and shoves the containers in one by one. It looks a little less sad and empty by the time he finishes. He closes the door and turns back to Roxy and Tilde. Tilde holds out a glass of champagne to him which he takes. 

“I got a new client this morning.” Tilde says  
“Okay? You get new clients all the time babe. Ain’t ever toasted about one before.”  
“This one is different. It is the biggest and most expensive event I’ve ever worked on.”  
“Oh. Congratulations then. Knew they’d get you there eventually.” Eggsy toasts Tilde and they each take a sip.   
“Tell him the best part.” Roxy insists.   
“Yes of course. I was getting to that. It’s a massive charity event. Close to six hundred people. They wanted over the top on a budget. So I suggested maybe a live performance.   
Then I suggested a burlesque performance because what is more over the top than paying a pretty person to dance around in almost no clothes? They went for it.”  
“Which means I have an outside gig!” Roxy cheers.   
“Rox! That’s fucking awesome!” Eggsy cheers and sets down his glass so he can pull her into a hug. 

He can tell she’s excited because her hug is so tight he almost can’t breathe. She pulls away, grinning ear to ear. 

“They do want a preview a month or so before the show to make sure they like it but that shouldn’t be a problem.”  
“Who could not love you dancing around all sexy for them?”  
“Exactly.”  
“Well this means we gotta celebrate then. What’re you cooking?”  
“Raggmunk” Tilde responds and moves back to the stove to flip the pancakes in the oil.   
“Fuck. I love that stuff. Thought it was like a Christmas thing?”  
“Usually but technically it can be served for any celebration and since you two have some weird aversion to anchovies I thought I’d go with this.”  
“We don’t have a weird aversion to anchovies. You have a weird love for them.” Eggsy argues and Tilde shakes her head.   
She mutters something in Swedish, probably about uncultured brits. 

Eggsy sets the table and they all enjoy potato pancakes and pork smothered in lingonberry sauce. For being even richer than Roxy growing up, Tilde sure can cook. 

After dinner, Eggsy walks down to the corner store to pick up some ice cream. In Tilde’s excitement to come home and celebrate, she’d neglected to pick up desert. Eggsy grabs a tub of mint chip for him and Tilde, and grabs Roxy a personal tub of her favorite strawberry that no one else likes. 

“Eggsy. Any chance you’d be willing to ask Harry and Merlin if I can use the club for rehearsal space?” Roxy asks later when they’re all tucked up together on the sofa.   
“Why can’t you do it?”  
“I can but they’re more likely to say yes to you. They’re basically your dads by now.”  
“I get what you’re saying but calling ‘em my dad’s makes it weird that I used to dance for ‘em yeah?”  
“Will you ask?”  
“Yeah. Harry’s in tomorrow so I’ll ask then.”


	4. Chapter 4

Eggsy knocks on Harry’s office door. He used to just barge in but once he caught Merlin and harry inside in a rather indecent state. Since then he’s always knocked. He isn’t entirely sure that the whole thing wasn’t orchestrated by Harry to teach him manners.

After a moment he can hear Harry call out that it is safe to enter so he opens the door. Harry is pouring over inventory reports which is probably why he let Eggsy come in. He hates inventory.

“Eggsy!” he exclaims warmly, “Good to see you. How can I help you?”  
“Actually I got a favor to ask.” Eggsy admits and sits across from Harry at the desk.  
“If it’s to get Saturday off I’m afraid Amelia has already called in sick and we’ll be short handed.”  
“Nah. It ain’t even a favor for me. It’s for Rox.”  
Harry frowns a bit at that, “Why wouldn’t she just ask me herself?”  
“She says you and Merlin view me as your surrogate kid and thought I’d have better luck getting a yes than she would.” Eggsy says with a shrug.  
“We don’t give you that much special treatment do we?”   
“I mean… a few people are annoyed that I get to tend bar all the time.”  
“Well they will just have to get over that. We aren’t going to demand you go back to dancing when you’re not psychologically ready,” Harry says indignantly but wilts a little under Eggsy’s gaze, “Perhaps we could put you on cover charge for a few weeks to smooth some of those feathers.”  
“Good call.” Eggsy agrees  
“Anyway, what favor did Roxy want then?”  
“Well I’m sure you’ve met Tilde.”  
“Lovely woman.”  
“Yeah. She works as an event planner and she got Rox a gig performing at this huge charity thing,” Eggsy says and rubs the back of his neck, “They were hoping they could use the club as a rehearsal space.”  
“I would have to talk to Merlin. We were considering opening up the club for teaching purposes, we could use the extra income. It is a tentative yes. We would need to know how long she’d need the space, see if we can stand to put off teaching for that long.”  
“I’ll get her to come talk to you herself.”  
“Try not to murder anyone when you work cover charges?” Harry asks  
“Do my best. See ya later Harry.”

Roxy is waiting for him when he gets home. She’s chewing the side of her nail and her head snaps up the second the door opens. 

“What did he say?”   
“Tentative yes but you have to go in and talk to him yourself,” Eggsy says, “Guess they were thinking of opening it up in off hours for classes.”  
“So why do I have to go talk to him?”  
“Because he wants to know how long it’ll take before he can open it up in off hours. I don’t know fuck all about this event or how long before it happens so you need to go neogtiate yourself.”  
Roxy scowls a bit at that but Eggsy has told her everything he can.

*

“I think I have it figured out.” Roxy announces one night as she climbs over the back of the sofa to sit with Eggsy.  
“Figured what out?” Eggsy asks, turning down the volume on the telly.  
“The choreography for the charity performance.”  
“That’s great.” Eggsy says noncommittally  
“Don’t you want to know what it is?”

Eggsy holds back a sigh and hits pause on what he’s watching. He knows Roxy is incredibly excited for this so he’s trying to be a supportive friend. The only problem is that he got home from a double shift only about an hour ago and he is exhausted. Still he turns to look at Roxy, giving her his full attention.

“Hit me. What great thing did you come up with?”  
“The theme for the event is Fairytale. Suppose it’s easy to go over the top on a budget since it is an incredibly popular theme so Tilde is able to snag deep discounts on all of the props and things,” Roxy explains, “So I figured I’d need to do a fairytale-esque performance. However, I am almost certain none of these corporate idiots have read the original tales so they all think Disney and frankly Disney isn’t sexy.”  
“Rambling Rox.”  
“Right. I’m doing kind of a push and pull. A powerful queen and her devoted man servant who loves her.”  
“Sounds good.Who’d you get to partner with you?”  
“Well that’s the thing…” Roxy starts and Eggsy recognizes that tone of voice.  
“Roxy no. I ain’t gonna partner with you on this.” he says sternly  
“I know. I know. I wouldn’t have asked except you’re the only one I trust to actually let me choreograph without suggesting stupid things like putting the man more in charge,” Roxy says, pleads really, “And you’re the best male dancer I know.”  
“Stop trying to get me back into it. Partner with Charlie. He’s good.”  
“But Charlie is an unbelievable ass! You know this.” Roxy actually whines a bit, which she never does. It almost works.  
“Then partner with Digby.”  
“Digby is also an ass and he doesn’t have the skill level required.”  
“You’ll figure it out. If you have to then change it to a solo,” Eggsy says and sags back against the sofa, “You ain’t gonna change my mind and I’m tired.”

Roxy hops off the sofa with a huff and heads back to her room. Eggsy feels a bit bad about the whole thing. Charlie is a massive prick. No one is entirely sure why he’s at Kingsman. He is rolling trust fund dough and is apparently in line to take over his father’s company. He’ll be hell to work with but Roxy can handle him. She’s tough.

*

“Oh. Sean. I thought you were gone.” Eggsy says awkwardly as he steps into his mums flat.  
“Next week.” Sean explains.

Eggsy feels caught out. He hovers in the open doorway, hands in his pockets. By the looks of things his mum has run out to pick up Daisy from Kindergarten. It means he and Sean are the only ones in the flat. That’s never happened before. Eggsy has no idea what to say to him.

“You were hoping to find your mum?” Sean guesses.  
“I.. well.. Yeah.” Eggsy admits.  
“Well at least close the door while you wait. You’re letting flies in.”

Eggsy steps into the flat and closes the door behind himself. In order not to be stuck in the same room as Sean he heads into the kitchen and makes a production out of getting a glass of water. He really doesn’t have a problem with Sean, he treats Eggsy’s mum right. Eggsy just has no idea how to talk to his mum’s live-in boyfriend. He is too old for Sean to be any kind of father figure, and Sean seems to know that too. It leaves them at an impasse in their interactions.

Eggsy stands at the sink and drinks his glass of water. After a moment the awkwardness of them existing side by side is too much for Sean. He wanders into the kitchen and hands Eggsy a beer out of the fridge and takes one for himself.

“I’m not your mother but I know her pretty well. I could probably give you pretty close to what her advice would be for whatever is bothering you.” he offers and takes a sip of his beer.  
Eggsy mimics the action, “Has mum told you what I used to do for a living? Why I had to have that surgery right after you two started dating?”  
“She says you danced at Kingsman,” Sean offers, “Pretty swanky joint right?”  
“Yeah. The one. Couldn’t get my grip on the pole and I fell. Turns out the newest member of the cleaning crew decided to polish with long lasting stuff and didn’t think to tell anyone,” Eggsy explains, “Anyway. Haven’t really trusted myself to get back up there. But my roommate Roxy, the one you two met over Christmas, she just got an opportunity to work this huge charity event. She wants me to partner but I said no.”  
“If you already made the decision then why come ask your mum about it?” Sean asks, leaning against the kitchen table across from Eggsy.  
“Me saying no she has to partner with the biggest twat in the world and I feel shitty about it.”  
“You know your mum would tell you to put money in the swear jar,” Sean jokes and takes another sip of his beer to stall while thinking, “If it were your mum giving you advice she would probably tell you to do the honorable thing and bail Roxy out but…”  
“But what?”  
“If you want my advice,” Sean offers and at Eggsy’s nod he continues, “I say do what feels right for you. If you don’t feel safe on the stage anymore then it will come out in the performance. Can't exactly embody whatever you’re trying to portray when you keep checking to make sure the stage is stable every five seconds.”  
“And Charlie making a hash of her work?”  
“Do you know he is making a hash of it?”  
“No,” Eggsy admits, “but he has a history.”  
“Then see what Roxy has to say first. Maybe it’ll turn out okay and you won’t even have to worry about it,” Sean says, “And if for some reason you do end up agreeing to get back into it, I am always willing to come check the stage at the event. Advantage of your mum cohabitating with a carpenter.”  
“Thanks Sean.” Eggsy says with a small smile and takes another pull of his beer.  
“Think you could subtly tell your mum about this? She thinks you hate me and it makes her nervous.”  
“Yeah. course mate,” Eggsy agrees, “and I don’t hate you. Just don’t really know what to do with you.”

*

Eggsy unlocks the back door. Ever since the conversation with Harry, they’ve been doing their level best to give him the shitty hours. None of them are happy but it has reduced the murderous look in Gazelle’s eye quite a bit. He hears the music as he’s shutting the door behind him. The sudden silence from the street makes it easy to hear what’s going on.

The music cuts out after a moment and Eggsy can hear voices. One sounds like Roxy. The other is male and a bit nasal so it’s probably Charlie. Roxy had mentioned that they got access to the club as a rehearsal face.

Eggsy bins his stuff in his locker then heads out to the floor. Charlie and Roxy are on stage. Roxy looks like she is considering using her skills in judo to throw Charlie off the stage. They are deep in an argument, Charlie bending over Roxy trying to cow her. Eventually Roxy’s stubbornness seems to win out. They go back to one. 

“Eggsy!” Roxy calls out, clearly relieved to have a third party to break up the one on one with Charlie, “Will you do me a favor and watch us? Maybe offer critiques?”  
“Why would he need to offer critiques,” Charlie sneers, “He doesn’t even dance anymore.”  
Eggsy swears he can see Roxy’s eye twitch as she says, “Because he’s here and we have been fighting over this for weeks.”  
“I’ll judge.” Eggsy offers up just to see Charlie’s face twist up as though he’s sucking on a lemon.  
“Thank you,” Roxy says and tosses him the remote for th sounds system, “Start our music for us?”  
“Sure Rox. Just tell me when.”

Roxy and Charlie walk upstage and position themselves. Roxy is sitting daintily on the edge of a wooden bench, legs crossed at the knee. Charlie is positioned to the side bowed low in deference to Roxy.

“Sorry, before we start,” Eggsy calls, “Is that the bench that Mrs. Coleman is restoring?”  
Roxy grimaces guiltily, “I couldn’t find another on short notice so I convinced her to let me use it.”  
“Can we please get this over with? I have plans after rehearsal and I don’t want it to take more time than it needs.” Charlie snaps

They settle back into position. At Roxy’s nod the opening bars of Halsey’s Castle ring out across the club. Charlie takes Roxy’s hand and kisses it, and already Eggsy can tell that while the performance isn’t going to be a bad one but it isn’t what Roxy wanted. Charlie looks like he’d rather be kissing a toad. If Roxy had wanted to go with a storyline about a queen taking too much power, Charlie would have sold it. Roxy wants devotion though.

Roxy pulls her hand away and they twist away from each other. She uses the bench as a step to get to the right height, then braces herself on Charlie’s shoulders, and kicks, letting her long legs kick-switch in the air. Agan, rather than looking enthralled that his queen is touching him, Charlie seems to actively lean away from her. 

Eventually Roxy mounts one of Charlie’s shoulders and he carries her down steps that appear to be cobbled together phone books. Charlie doesn’t seem any happier about carrying her than he did letting her use him as support. As he is easing her to the floor, Roxy puts to work some of her acrobatics to swing around Charlie like black widow. He catches her by her knee, lets her down, then she uses him as support again to do what is essentially a fan kick in mid air. They spin together and Charlie sets her down fully.

They both work some of their traditional ballet training in at that point. It’s pretty but it doesn;t seem to add anything to the dance. Charlie isn’t showing devotion by leaping as high as he can and Roxy isn’t showing seduction by executing a million turns in a row.

The dance gets even sloppier from there. For two weeks of work, Roxy is usually well ahead. The pole work she does is fabulous and seductive but the way Charlie kneels to watch her doesn’t read right. There’s some more beautiful but not meaningful transition before they twist back together and Roxy mimes yanking Charlie’s shirt open. They’re not in costume yet, just leggings and tight shirts so there is no actual shirt to yank open. She uses his shoulder to propel herself into a backflip. He pulls her to her feet again does a neat little turn and ends kneeling. He again kisses her hand with that sucking on a lemon look, and when she tries to caress his jaw, he actively pulls away.

Eggsy stops the music and applauds politely. It was pretty for the most part but he knows Roxy is disappointed. Charlie wipes his hands off on his leggings and comes to sit on the edge of the stage. He actually looks like he might be a bit disappointed too.

“So?” Roxy asks as she comes forward, chest heaving with exertion.  
“Looked real pretty,” Eggsy says and decides to test the waters carefully, “I think I like the new direction you’re going in.”  
Roxy’s face falls and it makes Eggsy’s gut twist, “New direction?”  
“Well yeah. You know, with Charlie being forced to serve your character?”   
Charlie honest to god scoffs at Eggsy’s opinion, “We didn’t change the direction. You just don’t understand art. I was the picture of devotion.”  
“No bruv. You weren’t. You fucking flinched at the end when Roxy tried to touch your chin.”  
“I’m ticklish there.” Charlie says after a beat.

Roxy hasn’t said a word since Eggsy opened his mouth. Her lips are pressed tight together. Her shoulders are scrunched up around her ears. She’s found a spot on the floor and is staring at it.

“Rox?” Eggsy asks tenatively.  
“It’s nothing. We’ll just have to work harder is all.” she says quickly. 

Eggsy has spent enough time with her to know when she’s trying to force something to work. He can also hazard a guess that she is seeing her entire chance at performing in other venues and going to competitions slipping through her fingers.

Charlie’s head whips around when Roxy suggests more work. The skin across his eyes is stretched taught. His mouth is agape.

“What do you mean work harder? You are seriously placing your trust in a random pleb and not the person you actually asked to perform with you?”  
“Unlike you, Charlie, Eggsy wouldn;t just state an opinion to piss someone off,” Roxy snaps, “If he says he it doesn’t look like the concept I described, then it doesn’t look like the concept I described.”  
“Then change the concept!” Charlie shouts  
“I can’t just change the concept!” Roxy shouts back, “You utter prick! I’ve already bought the fabric for our costumes. I choreographed the whole thing around this concept! I got approval for the concept from the charity board!”  
“This is fucking ridiculous! You asked me to perform with you in case you don’t remember. I am doing you the favor by being here. If you didn’t think I could do what you wanted, then you shouldn’t have asked me!”  
“I only chose you because Eggsy’s injury is keeping him out of the game!” Roxy shrieks

After that it goes deadly silent. For the first time since Eggsy met him. Charlie is at a loss for words. He’s staring at Roxy, a slightly betrayed look on his face. Finally he stands up and starts walking back towards the locker room.

“Charlie, where are you going?” Roxy calls tiredly.  
“I’m leaving!”   
“What? You can’t leave, we still have an hour left for rehearsal!”  
“Take a hint!” Charlie yells as he pushes open the door to the locker room, “I quit!”

Silence reigns in the club. Roxy is terrified of heights and one time Tilde took everyone on a trip to go sight seeing in a helicopter. It was some perk a client was paying for, wanted to see if it was worth the extra money to make a grand entrance. Eggsy remembers the look on Roxy’s face that day. It is pretty similar to the one she has right now.

The back door of the club bangs shut. Charlie has well and truly quit.

“Fuck!” Roxy shouts “Fuck fuck fuck! Shit! Shitty little cunt!”  
“Rox. Hey, take breather.” Eggsy says softly  
“I can’t! I don’t have a partner! I don’t have time to come up with choreography for a solo! I am going to lose this gig!”

As she stands there, raving mad, Sean’s words come echoing back to him. Be loyal but do what feel right for you. Maybe she can modify it. And really, if you aren’t going to take step towards recovery for best mate when they need you most, when will you? Sean could probably make the props.

“I’ll do it.” Eggsy says before he can think about it too much longer.  
“I-- What?”   
“I’ll be your partner.”  
“It is really cruel of you fuck with me right now.” Roxy says and for a second Eggsy is worried she might actually cry.  
“I’m serious Rox. I’ll dance with you.”

Once it processes, Roxy’s grin is so bright it would blind people living in Russia. She launches herself from the stage and he catches her. His generosity is rewarded with a kiss, and later Tilde joins in the thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Eggsy spreads his legs in a v shape then bends in half, trying to loosen up the muscles that have been slowly stiffening after over a year and half of inactivity. The last thing he needs to do is strain a muscle and be down for the count when Roxy needs him. Roxy is off to his left, warming up. He forgets sometimes that she trained as a ballerina until she took up burlesque. She’s doing jumps in first position, form nearly impeccable.

After a a few minutes of warm up, she joins him on the floor. They help each other stretch out, pulling gently on each other to deepen the stretch. Once they feel loose enough, they walk upstage. Roxy takes her position on the bench, a nice sturdy one that could be disassembled easily courtesy of Sean.

“Right. So I’m not sure how much you picked up when charlie and I were working together the other night,” Roxy starts, “but I figured starting at the top would be best. We can work out what transitions as we go. How are your acrobatics?”  
“Honestly? No clue.” Eggsy says.

It was part of his appeal when he still danced. Between his gymnastics training, and his penchant for parkour he was able to draw people in with the sexiness of a performance then absolutely dazzle them with an unexpected arial. He hops off the little platform that they had dragged out from Kingsman storage, and walks out to center stage. He rolls his shoulders, getting a feel for his body in the space. He does a few practice jumps to get the sensation back into his muscle memory. Then he completes a perfect backflip, landing neatly on the balls of his feet.

“Still in working order.” he responds to Roxy.  
“Good. That might help with transitions. Disguise the fact we are moving to the next movement,” Roxy says, “Now get back here.”

Eggsy jogs back up the steps to the platform and takes his position next to the bench, bowed. Roxy holds up her hand, palm flat as though trying to block him out. She counts off four bars. Eggsy links his hand with hers, she pulls her hand away looking offended, he tugs her hand back and kisses it. She pulls her hand free again and swings her arm and Eggsy turns with it as though Roxy has pushed him aside. Roxy kick flips off the bench.

They find themselves positioned at opposite ends of the bench. They mirror each other, dropping one elbow to the bench. They straighten and Roxy slinks onto the bench then advances towards Eggsy who gets one foot up on the bench as though trying ot meet her. 

Roxy reaches him first, and sets her foot on his thigh. She uses his shoulder to do an inversion, switching legs mid-air. She lands on the bench again and Eggsy swings over in front of her. That’s when his pre-knowledge from his viewing of Roxy and Charlie’s performance gets a bit muddy.

Roxy jumps into instruction mode. She hops down from the bench and goes to stand in front of Eggsy. That way he can mirror her choreography as they work this section out.

“So we’ve reached the point where you are standing facing me. From there it is a quick turn to the audience on four like I’ve pushed you,” she stands off to the side of the beach and takes the slow steps to the front then pivots left to face the crowd, “On five I push you again and you fall to the bench.”

Step and three and turn and fall and. Eggsy mirrors the choreography following as Roxy counts out beats in a strong and steady voice. They run it from the top again. Hand link. Pull, kiss, pull. Elbows, push, inversion. Step, step, turn and fall. 

By the end of the day, they reach the point where Eggsy balances Roxy in his shoulder and carries her down the steps. By then though they have to start packing up. Thankfully neither of them have work so they’re able to head home after rehearsal and collapse on the sofa. Eggsy’s shirt is stuck to him with sweat but Roxy is just as sweaty so it doesn’t matter them being pressed up against each other.

Or at least it doesn’t matter until Tilde comes back. She takes one step into the flat and curses a blue shriek that might even make the most hardened men of the estates blush.

“You both reek,” she announces, “No kisses for either of you until you shower.”  
“Bu Tilde,” Roxy pouts, “We were hard at work trying to make your event pop.”  
“Yeah babe. Can’t I just have a little kiss?” Eggsy joins in the pout.  
Tilde stands resolute, hands on hips, “No. I will not be fooled. Shower first. Then kisses. And no racing for the bathroom! You are not children!”

Roxy and Eggsy both stop guiltily. It was exactly what they both had been planning on doing. Friendly rivalry never hurt their friendship but it drove TIlde up a wall. They settled who got first dibs like adults, meaning that they played rock paper scissors and Roxy won.

Tilde doesn’t come sit next to Eggsy but she does stand in slightly closer proximity once Roxy is out of the room, “How is the dancing?”  
“It’s good. Yeah. Real good.”  
“Roxy is very excited to get to work with you again. She isn’t pushing too hard is she?”  
“Nah,” Eggsy says easily, “She’s been good about trying to keep my bit to an easier level since she knows I’ve been out of the game a bit. It also works out that my character is mostly supposed to be a support to hers.”  
“Are you happy? You look happy.”  
“Think I am. Haven’t done this in ages. Missed it more than I thought.”

*  
Roxy is chewing her thumbnail again. She’s walked through the same four bars of the performance over and over for the last ten minutes. Every time Eggsy has opened his mouth to offer input, she’s shushed him. Eggsy is rapidly running out of time before his shift starts though and he wants to get going on the transition.

“Look. Babe. Explain to me again what we need to do,” Eggsy sasy, “Maybe it can help you work it out if you’re talking out loud.”  
“We need a way from the last lift, to me getting my arse on the pole. The choreography for the pole is all worked out and my plan is to have your character eventually come to his knees in awe as he watches my character. Getting there is not going smoothly.” Roxy starts to walk through the last steps by herself again.  
“Okay. Slow down. Lets walk through the last steps. Maybe we can improv something,” Eggsy suggests, “Want to take it from the carrying bit?”

Roxy nods and they head up onto the secondary platform. Roxy steps on to the bench, then mounts Eggsy’s shoulder. He carries her down and they run through the complicated series of tosesses and lifts that barely allows Roxy’s feet to touch the ground. Eggsy turns and sets her delicately on the balls of her feet in a side splits, her back to him. This is where the choregraphy stops.

“Right. So from here I can either do another lift but that might get repetitive,” Eggsy suggests, “we can figure out how to work in maybe another inversion but on the ground since the skirt flying up is going to be a good visual thing.”  
“Let’s try an inversion and see if anything comes of it.” Roxy suggests.

The run through the series of lifts again. This time, when she gets set in that split, Roxy pulls her arms free of Eggsy’s grip and cartwheels away from him. It does bring her to her end destination but it leaves Eggsy without anything to do and it looks like he truly is only support, nothing else. Not what Roxy was going for. 

They try again and again. Everything they comes up with seems to be mostly featuring Roxy too heavily which considering she is more or less the main character, is saying something. They run through the lifts again, and Eggsy swears if he has to lift Roxy one more time today without results he is going to murder someone. Roxy is clearly just as frustrated. At the end of the lifts this time, she actually turns and collapses on her back without letting go of Eggsy’s hands. The momentum drags Eggsy forward and he only narrowly avoids falling on her by flipping over her.

They both freeze as he lands. Sometimes its like they share a brain. They try doing it intentionally this time, without Roxy falling all the way flat on her back. From there the transition comes naturally. It’s like all they needed was a little spark to set things in motion.

They are so excited by the sudden stroke of inspiration that Merlin actually has to come usher them off the stage. They’d been so caught up in smoothing out that movement that they ran well over rehearsal time. Eggsy goes to visit his mum after his shift and ends up spending the night since he fell asleep when they sat down on the sofa after family dinner. Daisy was very excited to get to eat french toast with her big brother before she went to school.

*

“And you’re sure everything is set up? Everything is all checked out, it’s nice and stable?” Eggsy asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet.  
“Eggsy, if you ask me if it is stable one more time I am going to shove my screwdriver up your nose,” Sean threatens gently, “And I’ll use the flathead so it’s even mor obnoxious to have stuck up there.”  
“Sorry. Pre-show nerves.”  
“I understand but it makes it sound like you don’t trust my work. Now are you sure your mum can watch the recording of this? I don’t want to be showing her a video of her only son trying to seduce any audience.”  
“Yeah Sean, it’s all good,” Eggsy promises. “The sexy to flashy ratio is skewed more towards the flashy end.”  
“Alright. Well I’ll be at the back of the room recording for you.”  
“Thanks guv. You’ve really come through for me.”  
Sean smiles kindly and claps him on the back, “Knock ‘em dead for me hey? My work hasn’t been featured in something this cool in a long time.”  
“What other cool shit your stuff been in?” Eggsy asks  
“Daisy’s school play of course. I built a very realistic looking well,” Sean smiles when Eggsy raises an eyebrow at him, “Alright. So I built some futuristic chairs for one of the Star Wars.”  
“No shit?”  
“I mean, it was Episode Two but I still count it.” Sean says and gives Eggsy one last encouraging pat before he leaves.

Roxy comes backstage and takes Eggsy’s hand. They link their fingers otgehter and Eggsy picks up their hands so he can kiss the back of Roxy’s. It’s just something he does for joint performances. Helps him feel connected ot the other person.

They do final costume checks and go tot take their positions. Roxy settles onto the bench. Eggsy stands off to the side, making sure the cloak doesn’t slide off before it’s supposed to. On the other side of the curtain they can here the MC talking to the crowd.

“Thank you all so much for being patient as we transition between performances. As I am sure you can tell, there was a wide variety all requiring different set ups,” she says, “We want to thank the Callum Classics Theater for donating the time of their no doubt very busy stage hands to help in those transitions. We would also like to thank Barbra-Anne McGee for her donation. Thanks to the sum you gave, you almost single handedly payed for the upcoming performance.  
Now for our last performance of the night, we have something special. It is the reason most of you agreed to come to the gala. We do have a a taste of burlesque for you. The dancers have spent the last eight weeks preparing this for us. The organizers of this event were able to drop by for a tech rehearsal last week, and let me tell you it was fabulous. So please give Roxanne and Eggsy they warm welcome the deserve.” 

“Here we go.” Roxy whispers.

The MC steps of the stage to a round of applause. The stage lights dim. The curtains open, and all of Eggsy’s pre-show nerves seem to fade away. They’re going to crush it.

The stage lights come on and they come to life. Even more so than in rehearsal.

Roxy holds up her hand, palm flat as though trying to block him out. Eggsy links his hand with hers, she pulls her hand away looking offended, he tugs her hand back and kisses it. She pulls her hand free again and swings her arm and Eggsy turns with it as though Roxy has pushed him aside, tossing the cloak aside as goes. It reveals a loose fitting shirt. The snaps are well hidden. Roxy kick flips off the bench and the fabric of her skirt swirls to reveal her legs all the way to the hip.

There’s a suitable gasp from the audience at the drama of it all.

They find themselves positioned at opposite ends of the bench. They mirror each other, dropping one elbow to the bench. They straighten and Roxy slinks onto the bench then advances towards Eggsy who gets one foot up on the bench as though trying ot meet her. 

Roxy reaches him first, and sets her foot on his thigh. She uses his shoulder to do an inversion, switching legs mid-air. She lands on the bench again and Eggsy swings over in front of her.

He follows the arc of her hand and turns to the audience. He falls to the bench in time with her push. He rolls across his end as Roxy takes a second to pose for the audience, one finger hooked into the cups of her dress. 

She falls backwards and Eggsy catches her in bridal position. Then he tosses her up again. Roxy arches her back as she sails into the air. Eggsy catches her again and a it earns them several cheers from the audience. 

Roxy stands back on the bench. She drags her hand up her leg under the guise of untangling her skirt but everyone can tell its’s to give them a teasing glimpse of her ass. Eggsy kick-flips across the opposite end of the bench and Roxy daintily places her hand in his so he can carry her down the steps.

Then comes the series of lifts. Spin in air, catch, land. Lift, fan kick in air, land in splits. They breeze their way through the transition to the pole. Eggsy front flips over Roxy, then does a back hand spring across the front of the stage as she cartwheels over to the pole and mounts it.

The audience has well and truly lost their shit as Roxy swings herself around the pole. Eggsy is kneeling in faux-awe of her but he is sure that a good 80% of the people here would be on their knees in reality. Especially when she slides up the pole with a sultry look. She dismounts and returns to her work with Eggsy.

He does a backflip over to her, showing his devotion by literally being willing to do back flips for her. As they spin together again, Roxy catches on the placket of his shirt and yanks it open, exposing his chest to the audience. The 20% who were not fully invested up until that point, snap to attention. A genuine roar goes up throughout the room. It fuels Eggsy to perform even harder.

They twist together in a series of waltzing steps and lifts. They tug at each others clothes now and again, whipping the audience into a frenzy. Roxy shows off her own acrobatics as Eggsy catches her out of a turn, and falls back into a kneeling position. The momentum tugs Roxy over his shoulder in a back flip of her own. 

Eggsy turns and helps his queen back to her feet. They fall into each other and Eggsy caresses Roxy’s cheek adoringly. Roxy pushes him away again, as though realizing their love and devotion could never be. Eggsy takes the opportunity to backflip one last time and comes to a kneeling position. Roxy caresses his jaw, fingers trailing under his chinas though she longs to stay connected to him as she slowly slinks away.

The music fades out, and Roxy slows to a stop. The stage lights fall. Just like that its over. There’s a moment of silence, and Eggsy holds his breath. They seemed to have responded during the piece but there’s no guarantee that they’ll applaud as they did.

The breath is punched out of Eggsy’s lungs as all six hundred people roar their approval. Even the people at the very back of the space. The lights come up again and Eggsy can see Roxy grinning triumphantly. He’s sure he looks the same. They run towards each other and Eggsy catches her in a massive hug that sweeps her off her feet. Once they’re done squeezing the life out of each other, they turn to the audience and take a bow.

Sean is waiting backstage for them. His mouth is agape. It takes him a second to manage to close it. He swallows, takes a breath. Lets it out. Then finally says, “Fuck. I guess that’s why you two are the professionals.”

*

It is one of the rare occasions that Merlin is working as MC at Kingsman. Whoever was supposed to work that shift had called off. So he crammed himself into the tiny booth.

“Our next dance comes from some ye might remember. He was injured almost two years ago and had to tale a break from performing. But after a successful debut at a charity gala a month ago he is back. Some of ye may know him as our bartender.

Put your hands together and welcome back to the stage, the one and only Eggsy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the inspiration for the performance. It is really cool, highly recommend watching it.   
> https://youtu.be/X799FINh50o


End file.
